Web-based products often includes a moving web of material, such as paper, non-woven, fibrous materials, polymeric films, plastic, or similar materials in a machine direction that moves through a rotary unit. Often, the moving web of material has one or more processes done such as, for example, printing, embossing, cutting, bonding, or a combination of processes such as gluing and embossing.
During these processes, it is important to understand the interaction between the rolls and the web of material. For example, one process includes imprinting a predetermined pattern onto the web as it travels through one or more rotary units. Each rotary unit may have at least two rotary rolls with a nip gap between them. The imprint made by the rotary unit may be affected by several inputs such as, for example, the characteristics of the web including the thickness of the web and the material making the web. Other inputs include the initial nip gap between the rotary rolls and the hardness of the rotary rolls which may be driven by the material that makes up the rotary rolls. Other inputs may include the applied load to the rotary rolls, the web speed, the rotary rolls angular speed, the web material stress-strain curve, bearer ring dimension, and spacer block dimension.
These inputs must be changed to render the proper imprint pattern. As such, there remains a need to model the effects of rotary inputs and web inputs to determine if the inputs will render a good imprint and a robust process. The model may be correlated to a rotary unit such that one may change certain inputs to the system and the simulation may determine if the appropriate imprint is achievable.